Ukraine talks in Oslo fail better

The most recent talks have not yielded a breakthrough. Even the Olesky micro-agreement may fall apart because of mutual mistrust. The Oslo meeting may, nevertheless, signify a more useful step on the road to peace than the Putin–Trump summit in Anchorage in August 2025, which produced false expectations in Moscow and resentment in Kyiv. The only way to break Putin’s belief that his war against Ukraine serves his interests better than any ceasefire is to hammer out a solid proposition for bringing the deadlocked fighting to an end. Diplomacy failed to end the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine again last week, but the cooperative spirit of Oslo may make it a better failure.